Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 April 2022
348. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the progress being made with Ireland’s commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development on sustainable development goal, SDG, 4.5 to ensure gender disparities are eliminated and there is equal access to all levels of education; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18942/22]
View answerI thank the Deputy for this question as it affords me an opportunity to update her on the progress made under Sustainable Development Goal 4.5 by my department.
Sustainable Development Goal 4.5 seeks to eliminate gender disparities in education and to ensure equal access for vulnerable members of society. Since its inception, my department has been active in progressing this agenda. Inclusion is one of the core strategic goals for my Department, and my ambition is to ensure that we provide supports and opportunities for learning to all. This means recognising the needs of vulnerable learners, people who are most marginalised and people with special and additional needs.
The Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021 – 2025 was launched in April 2021. The plan includes a target of 10,000 new apprentice registrations per annum across the further and higher education sectors by 2025. One of the five unambiguous objectives in this plan is ‘Apprenticeship for all’, meaning that the profile of the apprenticeship population will more closely reflect the profile of the general population.
On March 24, I launched the National Apprenticeship Alliance. The Alliance will have an advisory role in relation to the development of the apprenticeship system and will oversee and sanction the development of new apprenticeships over the coming years. There are plans to establish an equity of access subgroup of the National Apprenticeship Alliance which will look at addressing underrepresentation on apprenticeships from groups such as: socio economically disadvantaged, Travellers and Roma, migrants, persons with disabilities and women.
The 10-year Adult Literacy, Numeracy and Digital Literacy Strategy for Ireland was launched on the 8 September 2021 to mark/coincide with the International Literacy Day. Work has commenced on implementation with initial activity focussing on the set up of the Adult Literacy for Life Programme Office to coordinate implementation activities. A National Awareness campaign is underway, and a new website has been launched (www.adultliteracyforlife.ie) which will act as central repository for literacy, numeracy, and digital skills resources with contact points available for services across the country. I secured funding of €3m in Budget 2022 which will enable the establishment of the necessary partnership structures, such as the Adult Literacy for Life National Programme Office and a network of Regional Literacy Coordinators.
Work on the development of the new National Access Plan is at an advanced stage. Following an extensive consultation process, over 122 submissions were received and reviewed from a wide range of stakeholders.
The National Access Plan seeks to target vulnerable students or students who have experienced disadvantage and therefore face challenges in accessing higher education and experience belonging in higher education. The consultation process highlighted the importance of recognising and naming additional ‘priority groups’ in the NAP. I can say that all submissions received have been carefully considered in the development of the National Access Plan. I hope to publish the new plan in the coming months.
The promotion of gender equality in education is an area that I have prioritised. On 8 March 2021, I launched the National Gender Equality Dashboard for Higher Education Institutions. Based on published Higher Education Institutional Staff Profiles by Gender from the HEA. This dashboard developed by Maynooth University provides an interactive and comparative visualisation of key staff data and gender profile, from Irish higher education institutions (HEIs). The National Gender Equality Dashboard for HEIs , which will be updated annually, offers a valuable baseline (2017-2019), from which progress on gender equality can be visualized and measured across all grades of staff in the Universities, Colleges, and Institutes of Technology.
On 15 March 2022 I announced the second National Review of Gender Equality, which is being carried out by an expert group, on behalf of the Higher Education Authority (HEA). This review will assess progress since the first review of its kind in 2016 and make recommendations to ensure that gender equality is amplified in higher education institutions (HEIs) as they move into the future. The expert group is expected to make five to ten high-level recommendations as to how, in their view, higher education institutions might enhance their equality policies and their implementation to support gender equality. I expect to be in a position to publish this report towards the end of 2022.
In addition to the submission of progress updates, the Governing Authority of each HEI must submit a statement to the HEA confirming that the Institution has an action plan in place and that this action plan is being implemented as part of its Annual Governance Statements. All HEIs are required to submit an Annual Governance Statement and Statement of Internal Control to the HEA, covering a comprehensive list of governance requirements, with non-compliance in any matter to be identified within the statement.
Progress is continuing on the range of indicators included in the Gender Action Plan:
- All HEIs have institutional gender action plans and submit annual progress updates to the HEA.
- The HEA continues to publish the Higher Education Institutional Staff Profiles by Gender on an annual basis.
- New and additional gender-specific posts - the Senior Academic Leadership Initiative was launched in 2019. To date, 20 posts at senior academic level were awarded to Irish HEIs under the first cycle of the initiative and 10 posts were awarded under the second cycle of the initiative.
- Attainment of Athena SWAN awards is linked to eligibility for research funding from the Environmental Protection Agency, Health Research Board, Irish Research Council, and Science Foundation Ireland. 15 additional awards were announced on March 31. This brings the total number of awards up to 98; 20 HEIs have achieved a Bronze award and 78 departmental awards have been made to date.
The HEA has awarded funding of over €500k under the Gender Equality Enhancement Fund in 2020/21 to advance gender equality initiatives in Irish higher education. Awards were made across three areas regarding: research on or advancing gender quality initiatives in Ireland; training programmes specifically addressing gender equality; and Athena SWAN capacity-building activities.
Projects were funded across several areas including the promotion of female role models in the physical sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics (pSTEM), development and implementation of gender identity, expression and diversity training for staff in Irish HEIs, establishment of networks to support female participation in computer science, resources to support the academic advancement of mid-career female staff, provision of gender equality-based leadership training to future leaders, development of resources to assist departments in modelling gender-disaggregated data against national trends, embedding equality, diversity and inclusion into the curriculum, teaching and learning and teacher education, an investigation of how gender stereotypes contribute to gender inequality, support for the increased visibility and participation of women economists in public discourse, and research into the impact of menopause on the careers of women in Irish higher education.
